The Weird Histories of Your Favorite Cereals

I'm cereal — this stuff is a big deal.

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Have you ever wondered where Tony the Tiger came from, or who exactly the Silly Rabbit is? Well, look no further, because all of your pressing questions about the history of cereal mascots can be found right here.

Cap’n Crunch

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Captain Horatio P. Crunch was created by Jay Ward in 1963 in response to a survey that said kids hate soggy cereal. The captain must guard the Crunch from the evil barefoot pirate Jean Le-Foote and must make sure the cereal does not get soggy.

The Captain’s ship is called the Guppy, and he was born on Crunch Island in the Sea of Milk – a magical place with a mountain (Mt. Crunchmore) made out of Cap’n Crunch cereal. This cereal is one of the most popular for good reason.

Rice Krispies

Photo courtesy of blissfit.com

Interesting fact: Rice Krispies differentiated themselves from other cereal brands by being “the first cereal you could hear,” which inspired the song: snap, crackle, pop. These are the names of the three gnomes on the cover of the cereal box. Snap, Crackle and Pop are now the longest-running cereal advertising campaign in history, which began in the 1930s.

Trix

Photo courtesy of mentalfloss.com

The Trix rabbit is one of the most famous cereal mascots. In 1959, when the Trix commercials launched, kids loved the “silly rabbit,” and for over 40 years, this rabbit has starred in commercials and advertisements around the world.

Trix was once a hand puppet and eventually became so famous that he starred in Got Milk commercials. While he did not always get to eat the cereal in the commercials, he did always keep young kids entertained. For the philosophy majors out there, some say the Trix Rabbit reminds them of Sisyphus, a Greek figure who was doomed to endlessly repeat a futile task. Here are some more interesting facts about Trix.

Frosted Flakes

Photo courtesy of dailymail.com

Cartoon spokescharacters were extremely popular in the 1950s, and The Kellogg Company wanted an animal to advertise its new Sugar Frosted Flakes to appeal to kids and their parents. According to some, The Leo Burnett advertising agency came up with four different choices: Tony the Tiger, Katy the Kangaroo, Elmo the Elephant and Newt the Gnu. Kellogg decided on the Tiger and chose wisely.

The tiger became so synonymous with Kellogg that the company even ended up suing Exxon Mobile for using the tiger in their advertisements. Tony was so popular that he had his own brand of cereal for a short period of time known as Frosted Rice. Since then, Frosted Flakes has continued to be one of our favorites.

Lucky Charms

Photo courtesy of mentalfloss.com

Lucky was created in order to make kids feel like eating their marshmallow cereal, sometimes referred to as “marbits,” was a mystical activity. Lucky Charms is the first cereal to include marshmallows in the recipe. The mascot of Lucky Charms is Lucky the Leprechaun, also known as Sir Charms, and originally called L.C. Leprechaun.

Fun fact: Arthur Anderson supplied Lucky’s voice for 29 years, but, surprisingly, he is not Irish. Lucky Charms continues to be a household favorite, and the mascot has been one of the most celebrated icons since its creation in 1962.